Iggy's Thoughts tonite have to do with 2 Entrenched Camps of Folks when it comes to the Subject of evaluating a Business Opportunity or an Investment Opportunity:

One of my various hobbies is being a LandLord/Real Estate Investor (I'm really just a Blogger who has various interests...)

So I'm going to give you an Example of these 2 "Camps of Thoughts" when it comes to evaluation ASD...or any business opportunity...except...the example will be in the real estate business...and you can replace "Real Estate" with "ASD" and you'll get the picture...I'm taking this example out of my Iggybook:

Two Camps of Thoughts:

Opportunities Camp vs Obstacles Camp

I remember when my brother purchased his first rental home. Being a "Due Diligence" type of guy, he had a giant Excel spreadsheet listing the "Pros" vs the "Cons" of investing in a rental home.

We went through all types of scenarios...and there were tons of reasons, "obstacles", why investing in real estate was considered risky.

What if the tenant trash the house?

What if I can't find a renter and the home sits vacant?

What if the renter decides not to pay rent?

What if a hurricane or tornado goes through the neighborhood?

He ultimately purchased the rental home, got a property manager, and now has a tenant.

In any investment, there is a risk of not moving foward when you're focused only on Obstacles, and this can paralyze a person from success in life.

Sure it's important to always weigh the Opportunities vs the Obstacles of any potential investment, job opportunity, or major decisions that has a potential of improving your life, but if you view life with a glass that is "always half empty" rather than "half full", you risk having the syndrome of Paralysis by Analysis.

Paralysis by Analysis is a condition where a person over-analyzes a situation, is overwhelmed by the Fear of failure, and unrealistically wanting 100% control of a situation, as a result the person become paralyzed and Never make any decision at all.

For these folks the Risks of any investment or opportunity will always overwhelm the Opportunity of the investment, and nothing happens.

To move up in life requires analyzing opportunities, and taking action. Taking no action means no opportunity to move up in life.

Our field of focus tend to attract what we find in life. If we focus on Opportunities we find tend to find opportunities. If we focus on Obstacles we will tend to find obstacles.

Don't lose sight of the Goal. When problems arise, deal with them, then re-align your focus to the goal of success.

Many people are always "preparing" for success but never take action. Success requires Action.

Tax season is over, and my brother is glad he was able to write off approximately $9,000 of depreciation and deductions from his income tax as a result of the rental home purchase, in addition to the capital appreciation of his property over time, and the mortgage pay-off from the rents.

So it is with ASD...Due Your Due Diligence...realize there is no "Risk Free" Business Opportunity...and ask yourself what is my mindset: Opportunity or Obstacle?

iggyigette: Tax season is over, and my brother is glad he was able to write off approximately $9,000 of depreciation and deductions from his income tax as a result of the rental home purchase, in addition to the capital appreciation of his property over time, and the mortgage pay-off from the rents.

Hmmm I never thought of a rental house producing that many tax benefits, everyone always talks about the horrors of rental property as opposed to the benefits, good with the bad?

You're right with the analogy and ASD, the possible benefits ($$MONEY) outweigh the risks by far!!!

Thanks, I will have my husband read your post as I have wanted to invest in rental homes for a long time now and all I ever heard was
negativity, negativity = fear!!

nigelpm: My main concern is that on their legality site is says that rebates will not be paid indefinitely.....If that is the case....then what??

Nigel, you are correct. The Rebate Program is described by the Attorney as a "Loss Leader" project...a Project that is used to incentivize the exponential growth in membership ASD has today...

There is No Guarantee that the Rebate Program will continue indefinitely...and in my opinion I believe it must change in the future...I can't imaging ASD paying out 1% per day to 1,000,000 members...but that's just my personal opinion on this...

At the same time, again my opinion, those of us involved now have the opportunity to take advantage of the "Loss Leader" Rebate Program as long as it continues...

Again...it comes back to how each person view this...

Opportunity vs Obstacle...

No guarantees in Life...

Including putting your money in the Bank...many US Banks are on the Verge of Bankruptcies and require the Feds to Bail them out...

nekkoddd: During the California Gold Rush, people lost everything because of "FOOLS GOLD" and they bought mining rights to worthless land!

"A fool and his money are soon parted"

That may be true..BUT you should remember that the California Gold Rush happened during an era where these people had no way of investigating the opportunity before hand and only relied on the hype that was circulating. Today there is enough easily accessible information available where people can decide for themselves and make an informed decision based on the facts available.

Also there WAS a LOT of money made during that time by the people who sold the TOOLS to those miners! So not everyone lost money.

Somehow I doubt that anyone really knew for sure that the land was worthless at the time including the people who sold the tools! If these people didn't sell the tools to them, they would have found someone who would because they were just that determined and positive that there WAS "GOLD in them thar hills" and they refused to listen to anyone who said otherwise! No one said they were proud of it but they were in business to make money to feed their families as well, they would have been fools to GIVE away all those tools, and besides they weren't the ones that ripped off the miners. The miners got what they paid for from them! That's called supply and demand in the business world. It was the ones who sold the worthless "rights" to the miners that made the "ill gotten money"!